Statue of Liberty unveiled, by painter Edward Moran

NEW YORK (AFP) - Kings and queens from across Scandinavia, joined by the presidents of Iceland and Finland, will join in a royal get-together in New York next week.

The main event will be an American Scandinavian ball on October 21, bringing together the kings and queens of Norway and Sweden, the crown prince and crown princess of Denmark, and the presidents of Finland and Iceland, the Norwegian consul in New York said.

The Nordic heads of state will also attend the "Luminous Modernism: Scandinavian Art Comes to America, 1912" exhibition at the Scandinavian House in New York on October 20.

Norway's King Harald V and Queen Sonja were due to start their US tour on Thursday, with visits to Norwegian-American communities and sites in Minnesota and Iowa before coming to New York, where they were to pay respects at the site where the World Trade Center once stood.